No Day At The Beach: Playa Founder Shelby Wild On Coping With The Pandemic While Pregnant And Running A Growing Brand

Navigating the challenging new reality created by COVID-19 is incredibly hard as an entrepreneur. It’s even harder for an entrepreneur who’s pregnant amid the pandemic. That’s the position that Shelby Wild, founder of Playa, finds herself in as her 3-year-old clean haircare range was slated to graduate from Sephora’s rising stars wall to the retailer’s haircare section in stores nationwide with its full seven-product collection.

With Sephora stores closed, the rollout has been postponed indefinitely. Playa’s range remains on the retailer’s website, and its e-commerce sales have been strong. “We’re selling more on dot-com currently than we did prior to the virus,” says Wild. Across all its platforms, Playa’s sales had been surging annually by 4X to 5X before the current crisis. 

Playa’s California Salt Shampoo and Supernatural Conditioner priced at $38 and $28, respectively, are particularly popular now. “There’s definitely an over-index on purchases of treat yourself products at a price point that feels reasonable, but you’re still spoiling yourself at home,” says Wild. “We’re seeing that people are wanting to work on bettering themselves, to come out of this a better version of themselves.”

Wild’s first child is due to be born at beginning of May. While preparing for impending motherhood, she’s making difficult decisions about how to keep her global brand running as smoothly as possible. “It feels like Groundhog Day,” jokes Wild, who’s staying at her in-laws’ house in Minnesota, where she’s opting to give birth instead of New York, where she lives. Playa’s operations are based in California. “I’m just doing the same thing over and over again.”

Because salons are shuttered, consumers are handling their hair themselves. Many are scrambling to find products that will enable them to attend Zoom meetings, if not with that fresh from the salon sheen, at least sans bedhead. Google search intelligence firm Spate reports an increase of nearly  20,000 searches for the terms “hair oil” and “hair mask” during the week of March 29 compared to the week of Feb. 16. Playa makes both product types. “We’re really leaning into what the brand philosophy has always been. Playa allows you to be your own stylist with minimal effort on your end, and it’s really for every woman,” says Wild. “It gives you this wash-and-go, laid-back end result. It also repairs your hair over time.” 

That laid-back look cultivated by Playa with clean, cruelty-free products has resonated quickly with consumers. In addition to Sephora, Playa’s biggest retail partner, the brand is carried at Mecca, Cult Beauty, Niche Beauty, Le Bon Marche, Violet Grey, Revolve and Net-a-Porter. At Sephora, where four of Playa’s products were carried in-store, Wild estimates the revenue breakdown was 60% online, 40% in-store prior to COVID-19. Playa initially entered Sephora’s online assortment in 2018.

Production has slowed down at Playa due to reduced warehouse and fulfillment staff, and Wild has taken the opportunity to examine its business practices closely. “It’s caused us to be significantly more thoughtful about day-to-day decisions and how we’re managing budgets, where we’re allocating capital,” she says. Including Wild, Playa has seven employees, and the founder is proud to report she hasn’t had to lay anyone off. She emphasizes, “We’re being capital-efficient and incredibly thoughtful to make sure that we have a safe space for our team that’s become our family, and we continue to grow the business in a way that is authentic.”

“We’re seeing that people are wanting to work on bettering themselves, to come out of this a better version of themselves.”

During the forced pause in her brand’s rapid growth, Wild is keen to simplify her business as much as possible. She points out Playa is shipping larger volumes of inventory less frequently to retail partners to ensure supply chain efficiency. Wild elaborates, “We’re not operating on shoestring inventory like historically we have been, where we’re shipping every two to three weeks, which is more efficient and helpful from an environmental standpoint.” 

The number of partners Playa ships to may decrease as Wild reassesses if her brand stretched its distribution too much. “Maybe we want to reel things in a bit,” she says. “So, we’re reassessing overall retail partnerships, whether that be digital or brick-and-mortar…We’re managing capital and managing inventory, and creating the biggest impact with the customer.” Playa raised a $2 million seed round from private investors in 2018 to enlarge its retail reach, especially at Sephora. 

The retail reassessment doesn’t mean Playa will stop churning out new products. The brand is launching Monoi Milk Leave-In Conditioner on May 5. The $24 spray-in conditioner, which doubles down on Playa’s treatment-oriented styling approach, is available for pre-sale on the brand’s website. Wild describes the launch focused on mailers “bare bones” and muses that she appreciates the way it ties back “to this narrative of simplifying things.” She says, “When you’re not sending a box full of 20 different items, it’s all quite streamlined. Everything is very eco-friendly and has a low impact on the environment.” Wild divulges Playa has already oversold the inventory it has on hand, and it’s rushing a replenishment order.

Playa is unveiling a social media initiative concentrating on at-home hair tutorials with editors, female brand founders and others. Wild says it will “show individually what everyone is doing at home in terms of their new hair routine, whether it be prepping for a Zoom meeting or things they’re doing to prepare their hair throughout the day now that they don’t have to interact as much like leaving a hair mask on for 24 hours.” Under the hashtag #makewavesathome, the initiative’s debut IGTV post will feature The Girl Habit influencer Leore Hayon’s wavy, long locks. Wild says, “We’re showing different women with different hair types in different career sectors.” 

Wild believes the beauty industry will be permanently altered due to the coronavirus. Giving the example of influencer marketing, she predicts, “You’re going to see a less-is-more philosophy in terms of everything related to influencers and packages that are sent out, to where brands are allocating budgets. I think we’re going to see significantly more price consciousness going forward, where brand partnerships are not predicated on follower counts and large payouts, but more so around people that are doing things and making things that are really aligned with the brand. That’s going to be a really interesting shift in the influencer landscape. I think this is going to transform things for the better.”